Key events
23rd over: India 81-5 (Rahul 39, Jadeja 7) Target 193 Stokes stays around to Jadeja, who knocks his third delivery into the off-side for one and, with Pant gone, England will feel they’ve a little more leeway because runs won’t come as quickly as they would with him at the crease. Anyroad, Stokes tears in again, implores one to nip back, it’s powerless to deny him, he hits the back pad, and he likes it, a lot. The appeal is immense, the umpire says no tout, and England review. This is a monumental moment, in the series as well as the match…
“Talk about bad planning,” says Simon McMahon. “Just boarded the bus in Dundee and am now en route to Glasgow with pals David, Louise and Sam to meet up with another pal, Catherine, none of whom are much interested in cricket. I, of course, am glued to the OBO. I told them yesterday that this is what would be happening on the outward journey, so me with my head down, staring at my phone and making all sorts of ooh and aah noises, didn’t alarm them. God knows what the other passengers make of it, though. No need to bring the cairds when you’ve got a result on Day 5 at Lord’s and the OBO to keep you occupied, right? (I’m secretly hoping India are bowled out for 192, Siraj last man out, given on review).”
This is your chance to evangelise.
23rd over: India 80-5 (Rahul 39, Jadeja 6) Target 193 Archer – who gave Pant something of a send-off, unhappy at being one-handed for four just before the wicket – goes around to Jadeja, beating him outside off with one that lifts appreciably. But he can’t maintain pressure, the batter edging with soft hands and the ball running away for four. Archer isn’t quite as quick as he was on Saturday afternoon, fluctuating just above and just below 90mph, but he’s getting there, and after two more dots, Jadeja turns a single to midwicket.
22nd over: India 75-5 (Rahul 39, Jadeja 1) Target 193 Stokes now has a full over at the new man, making him play twice before allowing him to leave a bumper. One into the pads then allows a leg bye, before Rahul runs down two, reminding us that he could be the decisive figure here. But what will Jadeja make of Jofra? We’re about to find out…
“Maybe we wouldn’t need the bowlers to run through a side for less than 200 if the top order contributes a bit more over six individual innings, and Harry Brook isn’t trying to sweep a seam bowler,” reckons Liam Crowley.
Brook is top of the world rankings. I think he’s doing OK, even if he does sometimes get himself out in maddening ways.
21st over: India 72-5 (Rahul 37, Jadeja 1) Target 193 Jadeja gets away immediately with a twizzle into the on-side; he’ll fancy himself as the man for this situation.
WICKET! Pant b Archer 9 (India 71-5)
Oh my goodness me! This is an absolute beauty, slanting in, bouncing, and straightening to beat the edge before sending off-stump cartwheeling – a beautiful sight. That is why Stokes trusted Archer; England needed that.
21st over: India 71-4 (Rahul 37, Pant 9) Target 193 Archer begins on a sixth-stump line, left alone by Rahul, who then squirts a yorker away for one. Oooh, and Pant then decides he’s seen enough, leaping away to leg to one-hand a drive back down the ground for four. It’s amazing, but is it sustainable?
20th over: India 66-4 (Rahul 36, Pant 5) Target 193 Stokes continues as expected and Rahul drives his first ball through cover for two. Two dots follow, then Rahul turns a single to midwicket, bringing Pant on to strike; Stokes decides to go around to the lefty, two further dots complete the over, and India will be satisfied with their start, though Pant does not look at ease.
19th over: India 63-4 (Rahul 33, Pant 5) Target 193 I’d probably have gone for Carse, but it makes sense that it’s Archer: Stokes will feel comfortable relying on him and if he gets it right, he can finish this match, He begins with a yorker – if we’re being generous, if we’re not, he overpitched – and it jars Pant’s injured hand. But he shakes it off then, sent another full one, swinging into the pads, he flicks it around the corner for a four, celebrated with glee by the India fans. Two balls, two poor balls so far … but the third is much more like it, pulled back to be full, and Pant, forced to play, defends; at mid-off, Stokes applauds enthusiastically. Three similar deliveries follow, the pace at which archer is hitting the bat clearly discomfitting the injured Pant.
18th over: India 59-4 (Rahul 33, Pant 1) Pant dabs into the on-side and is off the mark immediately, taking one, then Stokes moves his final delivery away, past Rahul’s outside edge; over bowled. But who will it be from the Pavilion End? Heeeeeere’s Jofra!
Stokes has the ball; here are two slips and a gully. Play.
Here come our teams; Lord’s looks beautiful, of course it does, and the buzz is immense.
“Phone set to do not disturb,” says Ian Sergeant.
Diary clear
TMS in the ears
OBO in the eyes.
Let’s go
It does help that I’m currently on a sunbed in Paphos – and my wife and daughter are in the Trudos mountains for the day – but all the same, conversations will be just as sparse if they were here!”
It’s never too early for an ouzo.
Simon Burnton, one of our men on the ground at Lord’s gets in touch: “Confiscated by stewards at the North Gate this morning (photo courtesy of Emma John).”
Thank goodness someone has the bravery and integrity to stand tall in opposition to this sick filth.
Sky are hammering the “8m mark”, the spot on the pitch, especially from the Nursery End which, if you hit it, means trouble for the batters. If Jofra Archer can land the ball there, especially with his suffocating line, he can win this match for England. But he and they won’t have long to get things right – 135 can easily seem too few with Rahul and Pant at the wicket.
Stuart Broad likes Brydon Carse’s passion – when he describes him, he could almost be describing himself, noting that his spell last evening got the crowd going. If he can get lift from the Pavilion End, he can win this match for England.
“If Ben Stokes will be hitherto known as the Thundergod,” says John Starbuck, “(a) is he going to play in drag and (b) which side will be the Midgard Serpent? Also, does his wife have golden hair?”
I can’t say I understand all of this, pardon my ignorance, but hopefully others do.
“You know when you get up at sparrow’s fart to get an early train at 0829 to be sure not to miss a single ball,” begins Kim Thonger, “and then there’s a points failure and you just sit next to a field outside Hitchin watching cows for an hour and finally get to King’s Cross at 1035 and the train staff proudly announce you’re entitled to ‘Delay Repay’ refund like it’s some sort of special honour/treat that’s akin to a Nobel Peace Prize with an MBE attached? That.”
“There appears to be much hand-wringing about this England side’s approach to cricket,” writes Ben Heywood, “a consensus being that they continue to throw away good positions with silly shots. I think this is indisputably true, but most England sides of the past wouldn’t have pulled off a run chase like Headingley in the first place, so I can take the rough with the smooth. What many casual observers seem to be forgetting, however, is that this India side are no 1 in the rankings – it’s no disgrace to go down fighting to what is, on this evidence, a very, very strong line-up that has an all-time God in its bowling ranks. England, in contrast, have a flaky opener, a flaky no 3 and a collection of semi-permanently injured fast-bowlers currently missing their brightest new breakthrough act and their previously most successful seamer (albeit for very different reasons). We also do not have an experienced front-line spinner. I suspect that we, the gen pop, haven’t quite given this India side their due. If the opposition were Australian, expectations would be tempered accordingly. India by four wickets for me, but if Jofra and Brydon can bowl fast, straight and nasty in the first hour, who knows…?”
All batters throw away good positions with silly shots – often the same silly shots that got them into that good position in the first place. I think it’s fair to say England needed to modify their approach a little and I’m glad they have, but I don’t expect the change to be uniform and immediate, nor would I necessarily blame a defeat today on the way they play. Ultimately, though all their bowlers are useful, none are able to run through a side, so taking 20 wickets will always be a performance.
“Wimbledon or Lord’s – the excitement is the same, right?” begins Krishnamoorthy V. “This is a match for India to lose. The problem with such low targets is often mental rather than logic or capability. The total is something that Pant alone can knock off, but throw in a full house, Lord’s, the second-innings score of England, a clever captain and nerves, and it is not as open and shut as it appears. I personally want the Indian team to win as they can close the discussions on Kohli and Sharma forever, but I sense that Stoke’ sleeve could be full of aces.”
The pitch has also started misbehaving. Skiddy bowlers tend to do well at Lord’s, so I agree Stokes, who bowled well last evening, could have a crucial role to play today, but with the ball as much as with his captaincy. I imagine he’ll stay on after completing his unfinished over, and it’ll be Carse from the other end, as Archer looked a bit tired yesterday.
Brydon Carse, who’ll have a big part to play today, tells Mel Jones there’s a big feeling of confidence in the group. Asked about his batting, he says he works really hard at it, and Bashir coming out with a broken hand might make the key difference today.
On his bowling, he explains that there’ve been times across the series when he’s felt in good rhythm, generally when he’s got the ball swinging, and the one they’re using know probably has an hour of hardness left in it.
Mohammed Siraj has been given a demerit point and fined 15% of his match fee for getting into Ben Duckett’s face yesterday. The two brushed shoulders, perhaps accidentally, and I don’t imagine many people watching thought anything other than great stuff, but at the same time, I understand the authorities need to draw a line in the sand, and if it’s there, then that makes some sense even if I’d have given Siraj a bonus.
Something I saw then that I’ve never seen before: the sun moved behind a tiny cloud, the only one in the sky, where it remained for at least 30 seconds, and everyone cheered.
Email! “Watching from California for some early morning excitement,” says Neel Pai. “I notice that Ben Stokes looks like Thor. All his wickets look like a thunderbolt from god. For example, on the final wicket yesterday, the ball to Akash Deep looked like there were sparks flying out of the stumps as it flew out of the ground. I am excited to see what will transpire tomorrow. The match is going to swing based on Stokes’ hammer.”
I was in attendance at HQ on Shabbat – if they’re going to put Lord’s in the eruv, Jews are going to walk to it – and as England were toiling in the morning session, we were discussing how Stokes was going to stokes a breakthrough. Seconds later, he nails that run out – as you say, a total superhero.
So, 135 runs or six wickets? The bookies strongly fancy India, and I guess I’m leaning that way too – if England can break the Rahul/Pant partnership quickly, they’ve a serious sniff, but without a bowler able to run through a side, the likelihood is that the tourists finagle the runs they need to take a lead that looked extremely unlikely after Headingley.
Preamble
The feeling is all too familiar. We wake up, feel disoriented as our brain chugs into some sort of action, we realise it’s Monday morning, feel a way, and then … the tingle?
Ah, the tingle: the leaping and soaring inside our hearts and heads which reminds us that something is happening. And something is really happening.
It takes a few seconds to discern what, but we’re into stride pretty quickly – yes, by our lowly standards – because we’ve experienced this same sensation twice in the last few weeks. The pangs of excitement, of wonder, of progress and of distraction, encouraging us to dream, hope and feel; England and India are looking after us.
And, at some point today, one of the two will take a well-deserved lead in a series that is maturing and intensifying into a classic. If we’ve a dog in the fight we’ll have strong opinions about which of the two that should be, but regardless of how it shakes out, we’ll always have the tingle – and really, that’s more than enough.
Play: 11am BST